Say “death” and the whole room freezes— even the couches stop moving, even the lamps. Like a squirrel suddenly aware it is being looked at. Say the word continuously, and things begin to go forward. Your life takes on the jerky texture of an old film strip. Continue saying it, hold it moment after moment […]
You have to wonder what kind of reflection it is on a man’s life if on the way to the cemetery his hearse gets a flat tire? Coincidence? Maybe. Perhaps we should focus not on the incident itself, but on how his family and friends react? That is where the choice is, where grace happens, […]
To paraphrase a quote from Flannery O’Connor: Life has, for all its horror, been found by God to be worth dying for. What more can one add?!
Have you noticed the prevalence of skulls on clothing lately? Don’t people realize that skulls and bones have been symbols of death in every culture and in every time period throughout history? Come on people, skulls equal death. Is death what you really want to celebrate?
I heard this excerpt quoted from Fr. Richard John Neuhaus (who passed away earlier this month) on the radio. It is from his closing address to the annual convention of the National Right to Life Committee held last July. (Read the whole talk). The culture of death is an idea before it is a deed. […]
It doesn’t interest me if there is one God or many gods. I want to know if you belong or feel abandoned. If you know despair or can see it in others. I want to know if you are prepared to live in the world […]
From Br. Joseph — We have all seen pictures of the crucifixion. There is one particular picture, a bit different from most, which I want to describe. The viewpoint of the picture is from above the Cross, a little higher than His right hand and a little behind, looking downward over Jesus on the Cross, […]
My heart is a little giddy with excitement and anticipation for tonight’s Easter Vigil Mass. It is my favorite Mass of the whole year, with Christmas Midnight Mass a close second. It has been a long and dark Lent for me, and the hope Easter brings is fresh and renewed. It is easy to live […]
I occasionally venture into the blogsphere. About a week ago, I found this except posted by Julie from the book, Caring for the Dying With the Help of Your Catholic Faith by Elizabeth Scalia. I immediately copied and pasted it in an email to a friend and co-worker whose father had recently refused treatment after […]
Near the end of the film Into Great Silence (technically it is a film, but it is something more), there is an interview with an old, blind monk. The years of solitude do not wear heavy on him. He is truly happy, and peace envelopes him, coming to you even through the camera lens. His […]
Part of me feels heavy with anticipation of Good Friday. The Passion always makes me hang my spiritual head low. All is His pain and suffering and loneliness. Part of me feels light and giddy with anticipation for Easter. The Easter Vigil Mass is my favorite Mass of the whole year. The joy is hard […]
In one day, yesterday, I noticed the hint of green among the barren trees along the road sides. The blossoms on the Bradford pear trees are beginning to open, preparing to share their white bouques with the world. The pair of swallows returned to their mud nest over the porch. A bull frog could be […]
Life is like a pearl: it needs a grain of sand at its center—death—as the irritant, the enemy, to stimulate the production of the mother-of-pearl of life around it. But death remains at its center. At the heart of life there is death. Death is our being. Man is mortal. — Peter Kreeft, Love is […]
Death is the boulder we push against our whole lives. Although we never move it, we ourselves are moved, transformed, shaped by the process. (see Parable of the Man and the Rock)
Sometime in the middle of August, I ran into Becca, one of my former students. She was about to start her freshman year in college as a pre-med major. As we caught up on our recent histories, she told me that her boss Charlie was in the hospital in a coma. He was in there […]
The song “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence as been playing on popular radio stations lately. It has an edgy rock sound, and the lead singer has an incredible voice. But when I read the lyrics (after my previous entry), it gave me goose bumps…